


Androids Anonymous

by Vinnocent



Series: Teen Titans: Morph! [18]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, DCU, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Animal Death, Blood and Gore, Book 10: The Android, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-15
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-24 23:23:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1620701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Both teams are brought together for an important mission. With the additional team members and abilities, it goes better than expected. Until it doesn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Androids Anonymous

“How about this one?” Robin asked.

“No,” said Jake as he continued to browse local news sites on Cyborg’s borrowed laptop.

“What about this one?” Starfire offered.

“No.”

“I do not think that you are actually looking,” Starfire accused.

“’Cuz I’m not,” Jake said. “I already told you, I am not changing my uniform. Rachel made this. It’s fine. I’m keeping it.”

<That’s really nice of you, Jake,> said Cassie, making Jake jump, drop the laptop, and glare around the main room of Titans Tower for a sign of his friends.

<‘It’s fine,’> Rachel repeated. <Truly the greatest compliment I have ever received. I die, I want that on my headstone.>

“Where are you guys?” Jake demanded, still looking around in confusion.

<Still in bug morph,> Marco explained. <Give us a minute. And trust me? You don’t want to look.>

Starfire and Robin exchanged glances, then closed their eyes, but Jake was used to bad morphs by then. “I was gonna come over today, like every weekend,” Jake told them. “How come you’re here?”

“Actually, I called them,” Cyborg said, entering the room. “Meant to tell ya’ll, but I got caught up. And I can’t wait to tell Beast Boy ya’ll out-grossed him.”

<Any time,> Marco said, still part roach and looking like something out of a horror movie.

“What is ev－ Whoa!” Beast Boy said, entering the room. “Man, that’s the coolest thing I’ve _ever seen_!”

“Are we still meant to have our eyes closed?” Starfire asked.

Robin smirked. “No, Star, I don’t think it matters anymore.”

Starfire opened her eyes, then gasped and stepped back. “Wow,” said Cyborg. “I didn’t think anything grossed her out.”

“I am not out of gross,” Starfire said, lip quivering as she watched them finish demorphing. “They looked like Circadians.”

Scowling, Robin pulled her around to stop watching. “Cyborg, what did you need them for? I thought you and Ax got the probes cleared out.”

“We did,” said Cyborg. “This is a mission. And it’s big. We need everyone.”

“I sensed commotion,” Raven drawled, coming out into the main room. She glanced over the scene. “Why is Starfire crying?”

“I am not crying,” said Starfire. “Yet.” Then, “Very much.”

“Drop it,” Robin warned, pulling Starfire over to the couch. “Cyborg. Mission?”

“Yeah.” Cyborg walked past the Animorphs to the primary computer display, which raised up in front of the television. He plugged into it and raised up several windows of images and data. “This is Fixit, a sapient robot who used to live in the same junkyard that the Animorphs fought Visser Three in after Chapman attempted to trap one as a cat.”

<How do you know about that?> asked Ax.

“Fixit saw it,” said Cyborg. “And when I was connected to him, I saw it, too. After getting Fixit to realize the error of his ways, I took him to the only people who could reign him in. Because one of the details Jake and Starfire _were_ able to tell us about their trip to future included them, they’ve permitted me to tell the rest of you about them.”

Jake and Starfire exchanged glances. “Green Lanterns?” Jake guessed, while Starfire guessed, “Buster Gold?”

“Cute,” said Cyborg. “No, the Chee.” The screen displayed a rotating model of a dog-like robot. “These are androids, created by a species called the Pemalites, who were destroyed ages ago by another group called the Howlers.”

Animorphs looked at Ax, and Titans looked at Starfire, but both just shrugged.

“How long ago is ‘ages’?” asked Robin.

“They came down in ancient Egypt,” said Cyborg. “There’s been a few ‘mysterious’ depictions of them in Bialya. No one knows about them because they keep the largest portion of their population below ground. Those living above have powerful holograms that can seamlessly replicate a human appearance.”

“Why are they a secret?” asked Marco, who had taken seat on the floor in front of Jake. Cassie sat next to Jake, while Rachel perched on the couch arm and Ax stood behind the sofa, leaning his arms on the back cushions.

“It’s part of their programming,” said Cyborg. “The Pemalites were a culture that valued peace and joyfulness above all, and the Chee were designed to be friends and playmates for all species. ‘Chee’ literally means ‘friend.’ They don’t interfere, they’re always neutral, and they always make the most peaceful choice.”

“Wow, that’s… super,” said Rachel, squinting at the screen.

“I don’t get it,” said Beast Boy. “What do people like that need us for?”

“This,” said Cyborg, and joining the display of the android was a display of a small lump of stone. “This is a Pemalite crystal. It’s a computer processor. It’s advanced like you wouldn’t believe. And the Yeerks have obtained one from a Dyang trader.”

Jake went rigid. “You told them we know about Yeerks?” he demanded.

Cyborg shook his head. “No, they already knew!” he insisted. “Well, sort of. Star, Raven, you remember that boy who helped you hide in the bathroom? Chee.”

“We were disguised then,” said Raven.

“You were disguised with a hologram using materials I obtained from _them_ ,” said Cyborg. “Yeah, they can see past that. Because of the way the fight broke out, and given a few other events, they thought it likely that we were working with the Andalite Bandits. That’s _all_ they know about it.”

“Are you sure?” Robin asked. “If they’re so easily hidden, it wouldn’t be hard for them to find out more.”

“It wouldn’t be, but it’s against their programming,” Cyborg explained. “They don’t butt into people’s personal lives unless it’s to keep peace. These guys spend their whole days playing with puppies which, by the way?” He pointed back to the canine android. “Their design. They made puppies a thing on this planet. Not really a hotbed of evil.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe the puppies of the world are just alien sleeper agents,” Marco joked with a laugh. A moment later, he realized what he said and buried his face in his hands. “Oh god, what is my life?”

<So what do they want the crystal back for?> asked Ax. <If they’ve been without it this long, they can’t need it.>

“They need the Yeerks _not_ to have it,” Cyborg explained. “The current Yeerk plan is to use it to rewrite the computer networks, taking control of communications, which would be a doorway to open invasion.”

Robin leaned forward, paying avid attention now. “What else?” he asked. “It’s never just the one thing.”

Cyborg gestured again to the display. “It was designed to reprogram Chee, if needed. If the Yeerks find that out, they’ll have several hundred thousand at their command.”

“Evil puppy-bots,” said Rachel. “Great.”

“Not just evil puppy-bots,” said Cyborg. “Evil puppy-bots from a planet denser than Krypton. _One_ of these could go toe-to-toe with Superman and potentially _win_.”

“Where is it?” Marco demanded.

“The center of the Matcom building,” said Cyborg, and Marco visibly stiffened. “But there’s a maze of defenses. The crystal itself is sealed in absolute darkness. The barest hint of any light will trigger alarms. There are thin wires crossing the room that any touch will trigger alarms. The walls, ceiling, and floor are all pressure-sensitive and will trigger alarms.”

“A bat morph could maybe do it,” said Cassie.

“It gets worse,” said Cyborg. “There’s a reason I was busy. I was talking to Erek King again, the Chee from the Sharing meeting. The Yeerks are about to install _more_ security, and he’s got no details. It’s possible that if we don’t do it now, our opportunity will close.”

Cassie shook her head. “I don’t like this. I feel like we’re being cornered into it,” she said.

“That’s because we are,” said Cyborg. “We can _not_ let the Yeerks have this crystal. No matter what it takes.”

“You guys have never taken the Yeerks head-on before,” said Jake. “This _will_ get bloody. You ready for that?”

Beast Boy shot him a dirty look, but Robin nodded solemnly. “We can’t not,” he said.

Jake looked around at the friends surrounding him. “What about you guys?” he said. “What about Tobias? This sounds hairy.”

“In,” Marco grumbled.

Rachel nodded but didn’t look happy. “In,” she said.

“We have to,” Cassie whispered.

<Tobias says that he cannot contribute to this mission and therefore will not be voting,> Ax informed them. <And I will go where my prince goes.>

“Don’t call me ‘prince,’” Jake grumbled.

Starfire suddenly pointed at him enthusiastically. “Hero alias!” she cried.

“No,” Jake and Robin said at once.

“They get to vote on missions?” said Beast Boy.

“If you got to vote on missions, you would sleep and eat through the whole day,” Raven drawled.

“I don’t see the problem.”

“Guys, cut it out,” Robin warned. “Cyborg, what are the details on this Matcom building?” he asked, and Cyborg began to describe the specifics.

Slowly, everyone sank lower into their seats. “Is it too late to change my vote?” Marco mumbled.

“Maybe spiders?” Cassie mumbled to herself.

“What is it with you and bugs?” Marco demanded.

－ －

“My friends, you are going in the wrong direction,” ~~Starfire~~ Superstar called down from above the clouds. Looking up, the Animorphs in their flight morphs could barely see her. “The Matcom building is over there.”

<They all look alike,> Marco complained.

<Where is it?> Cassie asked. <I still don’t see.>

“There!” called Superstar, and she probably pointed, but none of them could see it.

<Oh, wait, I see the sign!> Rachel called, and she swooped down to land on the building’s roof, where there were no security cameras or guards. ~~Beast Boy~~ Changeling and ~~Robin~~ Red X were already standing there waiting, and the Animorphs started demorphing. Robin had opted for Red X over Nightwing because the suit had more aggressive weapons.

“Everyone in positions?” Red X said into the communicator.

“I’m inside an empty office across the street, and I’ve got signal for directing you,” ~~Cyborg~~ Cyberion said. “There’s a side of the building that will be relatively safe to blow out for emergency exit. From there I can use sonic blasts to cover your escape.”

Changeling walked over to the pipe Cyberion had indicated back at the tower and dropped something like a metal marble inside. “Scanner bot is inside,” he reported into the communicator. “You’ll have those schematics soon.”

“I am in the air with Tobias,” Superstar reported. “We are surveilling and prepared to add force.”

“I’m here,” ~~Raven~~ Pride said, floating down onto the roof. “Ready to go in with Changeling and the Andalite Bandits.”

“I’ve already disabled the furnace,” Red X reported. “Now, I’m one floor beneath your target. I’ll be the first to back you up if something goes wrong.”

“You mean you’re _going_ to do all that,” said Changeling, raising an eyebrow at Red X.

“You’re talking to a hologram,” Red X reminded him patiently. “The one I put up here to distract anyone noticing the roof activity? And yes, I did pre-program it to remind you that.”

“I guess that explains how you’re active in Jump City and Gotham City at the same time,” said Marco.

That time, his voice came not from the hologram but from the communicator. “Actually, when I left Gotham, I was replaced by a thief,” he explained. “There really is two... um... Reds.”

“A thief?” Pride asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

“Ex-boss caught him taking the tires off _that_ car while it was parked in Crime Alley,” Red X told them.

The Animorphs, minus Ax, and Changeling burst into giggles over this revelation. Cassie fell on her butt onto the roof and took Changeling down with her. “Alright guys,” said the Red X hologram. “Get in morph.” There was a brief exchange of confused glances at how Robin had known to program that in to be said at that moment, but they started morphing down anyway.

<Man, we are ugly up-close,> Rachel complained in her wolf spider morph.

Pride watched as six spiders, one of them purple, raced across the roof to the pipe that Cyborg had indicated earlier. Something sank in her gut. This was going to go wrong. She could feel it clinging to her skin and dripping off her fingers. She clutched an arm over her stomach as she reported in. “They’re in the pipe. I’ll be following shortly.”

<Yeeeeee-Haaaaaa!> Marco yelled from the pipe.

<Are you okay?> came a voice she certainly heard a lot less often. Pride turned her four burning eyes up toward the sky, where a hawk sailed on warm air. <You just look like maybe you’re not,> Tobias said.

Pride said nothing. She dissolved further into shadow, then flew into the pipe. She followed just slightly behind. She was uncomfortable enough in shadow form, but sitting quietly in a small space just made it worse. She felt like she was teetering on collapse, about to fall into herself, and she wasn’t sure what lay at the bottom of that pit, though she had certainly pushed plenty of things into it.

Just as Beast Boy had suggested, when he and Marco ran out of web, Cassie climbed down their joined rope, wove hers around the end, and continued on. Rachel followed after her, strengthening Cassie’s strand with her own. Marco and Beast Boy cut their webs and followed further down. If they had run out, Jake and Ax would have lengthened the strand further. Instead, they came to a… well, they weren’t really sure what they came to. It was basically a portion of the vent they could stand in.

<Okay,> said Jake. <Pride, ask for directions.>

“Cyberion, they’re ready,” Pride hissed into her communicator.

“You okay?” Cyberion’s voice returned. “You sound weird.”

“Directions,” Pride reminded him.

“You’re gonna wanna go about 100 feet west,” Cyberion reported, and, after the purple spider started to take off, “Your other west, Changeling.” Another spider, which Pride sensed to be Aximili, had already taken off in the correct direction. Cyberion continued, “You’ll know when you hit the end, because you’ll fall through another pipe. You’ll keep going like that, west and down, until you reach the furnace. I’ll tell you where to go from there.”

Pride followed the spiders, falling through the pipes like smoke, as they skittered and fell their way through the metallic maze and the dust within the vent became thicker and thicker. It wasn’t that much, really, but Pride could feel it passing through her, and she suppressed the urge to destroy it.

<What’s that?> Rachel cried suddenly.

Pride looked around. “What’s what?”

<I feel it too,> said Cassie.

<It’s something big!> Rachel cried. <I can feel the vibrations! It’s coming toward us!>

The spiders raced ahead in panic. “Stop that,” Pride hissed. “I can feel it. Get a hold of yourselves.”

Changeling looked at her with a spidery mimicry of concern, but the Animorphs just continued to insist that something was about to get them. Searching around, Pride finally found it. A rat. A big one. It had sensed the spiders and come to collect its dinner.

A shadowy appendage lashed out and grabbed the creature, pulling it into dark depths. It didn’t come out again.

<Oh, hey, it stopped,> said Rachel.

<What happened?> asked Jake. <Our morphs were completely freaking out!>

“Continue on,” said Pride.

Changeling gave her one last worried glance before backing away then running after the other spiders. Pride suddenly realized that maybe she should let go of the rat and waited a moment to concentrate and search within herself.

But the rat was nowhere to be found.

Eventually, they reached the dead furnace, and Cyberion gave them instructions onward. Superstar relayed that the coast was still clear, and Red X assured them that Matcom was still unawares of their presence there. The spiders carefully tip-toed across the spires along the top surface. Things were going well. So why did Pride feel like she was about to shatter?

<Walls coming up,> Jake reported.

<The maze we were warned about,> said Cassie. <Built to block every photon of light from entering the high security room.>

<Alright, R-- Pride, can you carry us through?> asked Jake.

“Actually,” said Pride, “I think you should try to walk it.”

<Can we?> asked Marco. <The plan was for you to take us through, cutting down on our time and making sure that we don’t get lost.>

“A simple plan,” said Pride. “But I have never been insubstantial so long. I am no longer certain of my abilities. Unless you wish to risk being lost in another dimension.”

<That mindscape thing?> asked Marco. <Two of us have been in and out before.>

“That was with the use of a specialized tool,” Pride reminded him. “Cyberion, can you direct them through?”

“Yeah, it’s going to take time, but they’ve still got plenty,” came Cyberion’s reply. “Everyone cluster together with Changeling. He’s the only spider with a tracker.”

Cyberion guided the cluster of spiders through a series of switchbacks, around a steel panel, and then back around another. Pride waited patiently behind until they were through.

<We’re at the High Security Room,> Jake reported. <Ax and I are going to spin to the floor. Then everyone can climb down.>

Pride repeated that to Cyberion. “Alright. Good job, everyone,” he replied. “Remember, don’t go more than two feet out from the wall, or you’ll set off the pressure sensors. Don't touch the wall for the same reason. We’re now on radio silence until Interior Team reports in.”

Pride waited until she heard the sound of bones crunching and skin and tendons stretching before she moved out of the vent. Feet on the floor and wall near her back, it was a relief to be substantial again. She worked quickly to squash the instinct to weep. Getting emotional would not be helpful to their current cause.

“There could be six Hork-Bajir three inches away, and we wouldn’t know it,” Marco complained in a low whisper.

“I am fairly certain they would hear you, though,” Pride drawled.

“I know you can’t see it, but I’m making a face at you right now,” he informed her.

“I can sense you just fine,” she told him. “I just thought that was your normal face.”

“Can you sense the crystal?” Jake asked.

Pride concentrated. She attempted to reach out and fill her mind with the room before them, but all she had was herself, six shapeshifters, and the section of wall just behind her. “No,” she said. “As I predicted, there’s too little information in here to get a sense of inanimate objects. I could shadow through the whole room, but there would be a risk involved.”

“Well, that’s why we have our morphs,” said Cassie. “Time for us to go bat. Then, we’ll be able to see everything.” Then, as the bone crunching began, “Well, not _see_ exactly…”

Within moments, they were all bats on the floor, each about the size of a pet mouse. One of them fired off a series of sonic pulses, echolocating the room’s contents. Soon the others did, too. What Pride hadn’t expected was how grating the noise would be indoors. Humans typically could not hear it, and when encountering bats outdoors, she usually barely noticed it. But in this small, enclosed space, with no other stimulation, suddenly it was all the delights of screaming children and gunfire wrapped into one. She groaned and put her hands over her ears.

<Okay, that is cool,> said Rachel, and her voice was thunderous in Pride’s mind. <That is way cool.>

<The wires seem awfully close together,> Cassie worried. <We should have got more practice in.>

<There would not have been time before they installed the new security measures,> Ax reminded her.

<Yeah, I know,> she said. <Okay, just like in the practice room that Ro-- Red X? _Whoever_ rigged up. You’re going to get the best results by trusting your bat to do the flying. Tell it where to go, but let it decide how to get there. >

<Abandon yourself to the Force, Cassie Skywalker,> Marco teased.

<Thanks, Darth,> she said. <You first.>

<What? Me first? Oh. Okay. Yeah, I can do that,> Marco replied, sounding suddenly nervous. <Okay, here goes.>

He took off! He flapped and dodged every which way. Raven could sense the erratic movements, but not what he was moving around. Eventually, he landed on a raised surface. <Okay, now _that_ is a roller coaster ride! Yes! > Marco shrieked in their brains. <Yes!>

The others followed after him. Everyone but Changeling. He dropped next to her in his humanoid form. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I could hear your heart.”

“Let’s just get this over with,” Pride snarled.

<We did it!> Marco howled as everyone landed on the surface at the center of the room, one taking a perch higher than the others.

<These bats can _fly_! > Rachel squealed.

<Is that the crystal?> asked Cassie.

Someone fired off another nerve-grating sonic pulse. Ax said, <That must be it.>

<Um, problem,> said Jake. <I can’t pull it up with my feet. It’s too heavy.>

A bat flapped over beside him. <Okay, on four,> said Rachel. <One. Two. Three. FO-- Oops! It’s too slippery!>

“Grab it in your mouth!” Changeling called out to them.

<Um, then how will he echolocate?> asked Cassie.

“Just listen to the others,” said Changeling. “It’s all the same, right?”

It wasn’t. Within a few seconds of everyone taking off, Jake hit the wires, and alarms started blaring. Pride burst into shadow, spreading through the room, and the Animorphs fell into the corners, pushing out of bat morph and into battle morph as fast as they could manage. “We’re doing a fighting retreat!” Changeling yelled into his communicator before bursting into rhinoceros form.

ScreeeEEEET! ScreeeEEEET! ScreeeEEEET! The alarm was deafening.

Changeling rammed through the door at the far end that Pride hadn’t even sensed. Pride flooded out after him, obscuring the hall as Hork-Bajir and Taxxons flooded in. Pride sensed that humans in other parts of the building were being evacuated; she could feel their panic.

SKLISH! Changeling rammed a Taxxon too hard, and it burst open like an old tomato. “AH! SORRY!” he said, transforming back, but another Taxxon simply snapped at him on its way to the screaming buffet. “HEY! AAGH!” Changeling reeled backward as a Hork-Bajir slashed him across the chest. He changed into a gorilla, grabbed the Hork-Bajir, and threw it into more newcomers.

“HRRRRAAAWWWR!” Rachel cried as her grizzly morph widened the doorway. Just as a Taxxon reared to take a chunk out of a distracted Changeling, she grabbed it with her jaws right between the eyes, then twisted.

Marco in gorilla morph and Jake in tiger morph burst out right behind her, taking off in the opposite direction as Cassie and Ax spilled out behind them, but they, too, were stopped by Taxxon and Hork-Bajir forces. Without space to land, Pride swarmed past them all, landing on her feet on the far side of the hall. “Report!” she snapped at the communicator.

“Coming up now!” said Red X. “It-- AGH-- On alert. Fighting up.”

The tiger screeched as a Taxxon clamped down on his back leg. As it pulled back, Jake twisted and shoved his claws into its eyes.

“I can’t blow out the wall!” Cyberion cried. “There’s too many people bailing out of the building!”

<JAKE!> Marco screamed, grabbing a Hork-Bajir’s wrist just before it swung down at the back of Jake’s tiger neck. Which opened the perfect opportunity for another Hork-Bajir to slash him across the belly, making his scream ring through her mind.

The Hork-Bajir finally noticed her and came running toward her, and she easily dodged up toward the ceiling. “Superstar? Superstar, report!” Pride demanded just before turning and using her dark energy to grab the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons on her side and pull them violently back away from the Animorphs, unfortunately taking Jake’s leg with them. His and Marco’s blood joined the growing pool of alien guts on the floor.

<We-- --o-- --sy,> Tobias called down. Cassie and Ax lept between Marco, who was attempting to pull both himself and Jake back toward the dark room where they could demorph. Cassie leapt and tore into the throats of Hork-Bajir as Ax slashed through anyone who came near which, unfortunately for him, was not enough to stop hungry Taxxons. Both quickly found themselves retreating.

“AAGH!” Pride cried out as a Hork-Bajir slashed up at her calves. In her surprise and pain, she fell. A Hork-Bajir moved to either step on her or slash with an ankle blade -- she wasn’t sure which, and she did not allow an opportunity to find out. With a wave of telekinetic energy, she threw them back into the melee.

<HEY! NO THANK YOU!> Marco shouted at her. <Way too busy not dying to fight your Hork-Bajir for you!>

Pride raised up to her feet. The smell of blood was thick in her nose, and she could feel the scent brewing in her lungs, passing out over her tongue on exhale and tasting like fire. Screams filled her ears and her mind. She was dissolving at the edges. She needed to concentrate. She had to hold it together. Her friends were counting on her.

That was when the walls blew out.

Suddenly, they all stood in immense ruin, the battle only stopping momentarily. Jake and Marco were only just able to duck behind the crystal’s pedestal, in mid-morph. Walking calmly up what had once been an adjoining corridor was an Asian girl, maybe about Robin’s age, wearing dark jeans and a leather jacket and carrying what Pride could tell even at a distance was a very powerful magical artifact.

“Hi,” the girl said with a confident sneer, as red and green energy blasts lit up the clouds above them. “I’m Traci 13, and you’re _so_ dead.”

An indignant rage unlike any she’d ever felt before roared through Pride’s entire being. “You want to play with magic, you foolish slug?!” she snarled, unfolding to new heights, and, slowly, Traci’s eyes began to widen as her Yeerk began to realize what it had taken on. “Your puerile endeavor at aggression _offends_ me!”

Traci seemed to consider her options before that smirk returned, she widened her stance, and she began to chant. The Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, however, did not have nearly her faith. They began to run away. “What’s wrong?” Pride laughed. “You’re not afraid of the dark, are you?” Like whips, her shadows wrapped around them and pulled them screaming into her depths.

Traci chanted harder.

Pride reached out for her, shoving against the wall of power the young sorceress was building up. She had a natural talent, and she _was_ powerful, but she didn’t have what Pride had.

Unfortunately, she was distracted when Superstar slammed to earth nearby, followed quickly by a diving Superman. “I don’t know where you came from,” he taunted, “but you’ll go down just as easily as the other Kryptonian survivors.” Somewhere, in the distance, Pride could hear screaming on her communicator, but it was all the white noise of battle now.

Traci glanced at him, then at the fallen Superstar’s crumpled form and flickering hologram. Angrily, she snapped, “That’s not a Kryptonian, you moron!”

He looked, confused, at Traci. Then he looked, curious, at Superstar, who was staring at Traci with horror. Then, he smiled.

“No!” Traci shouted. “She’s down! Hit that one!” She pointed desperately to Pride.

Superman turned to the towering, shadowy figure. Pride turned gleaming red eyes to him. She smiled toothily. He set his jaw in a determined snarl and barreled toward her, hitting with everything he had.

He didn’t come out again.

That was when Traci finally turned tail and ran. But Pride snatched her up like an insect and held her in the air by her ankle. “Oh, look, it’s _Traci 13_ ,” Pride sneered, “and she’s _so_ dead.”

“No, wait, stop!” Traci’s Yeerk pled pathetically. “Please, I can--"

“What’s wrong, Traci 13?” Pride sneered. “Can’t handle a little _magic_?”

Light blasted through the shadowy appendage, and Traci dropped like a rock, landing on her shoulder with a scream of pain. Hissing, Pride spun toward the flickering Superstar, who was being held up by Cyberion. “Ray!” he screamed. “What is _wrong_ with you?! Stop this!”

“This isn’t like you,” came a small voice to the other side. She spun around to face Changeling, standing alone while Red X helped direct the Animorphs to safety far behind him.

“You have no idea what I’m like,” she snarled with a voice like an earthquake.

“Yes, I do,” he said.

The pang of guilt dropped into her boiling blood like a snowflake. She shrank slightly. “No…,” she whispered. “No, you don’t.”

He stepped forward, his usual silly grin set in a thin determined line. “I know enough,” he said. He waved a hand toward Traci 13, who Red X was now helping to her feet. “Is this who you really want to be?”

She shrank further. “No. No, I…” Was it? Was this who she was? She shrank more and more, corporealizing again. “No, I never wanted to…” Her cloak fell down around her, mundane once more, revealing the strewn sleeping bodies of Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, Superman, and a single rat. “I…” she said, but she had no idea what she wanted to say. She wanted to cry, but losing control again was the last thing anyone needed of her.

Traci 13 ran off the way she’d come from, and Cyberion finally stepped forward into the rubble. “Come on,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

－ －

Jake peeked out of the elevator. “Is it safe?” he asked.

“Nice tact,” Robin grunted from the kitchen. “Yeah, everyone’s fine now. She didn’t do any big damage; just scared the crud out of everyone.”

Starfire slid up from her seat on the couch, arching her back over the back of it to peer at him from her new upside-down perspective. “Where have you been?” she asked curiously.

Jake shrugged, trying to hide his guilt and nerves, and explained, “I stayed at Ax’s scoop until the news let us know what happened or waiting for one of you to call for help.” He held out Red X’s communicator with the Heroes Against Control logo. “Here’s this back,” he said.

Robin took it in hand. “Remind me to get you one like Beast Boy’s,” he said.

“That absorbs into my _skin_?” Jake groaned. “Yeah, no thanks.”

“Maybe we could make a morph-expanding belt?” Starfire suggested. “It would certainly set him apart from the Animorphs.”

“Uh, speaking of…” said Robin. He rubbed at his neck wearily. “If you didn’t want to stay here… _would_ Ax’s scoop suffice as a long-term solution?”

“What?” Jake demanded. “You ask me if I want to stay _now_? How come Raven goes off the rails, and _I_ get kicked out?!”

“We’re not kicking you anywhere!” Robin insisted. “It’s just…”

“We have been speaking on what shall be done regarding Raven,” said Starfire, sitting upright again. “We all did. With her. She explained that her abilities are driven by emotional control. The more emotion, the more power.”

“That’s why the battle set her off,” said Robin. “It was… gruesome. And she was distraught. The shock of another powerful magic user was just the last straw on a heap of… emotional straws. I’m not sure that metaphor went correctly.”

“Okay, but Tobias, Cyborg, and Beast Boy _all_ noticed something was up,” Jake pointed out. “And that was _before_ the battle started.”

“Yes,” Starfire admitted. “She explained that as well. It would seem that to use her other forms necessitates… loosening the grip on her control. Just slightly.”

“So she was already derailing when the battle happened?” Jake said.

Robin sighed. “She was trying to hide it,” he said. “To keep us from worrying. She thought it more necessary to provide her abilities to us than to look after herself. And, trust me, we’ve already had plenty of yelling about that. I don’t think she’ll do it again.”

Jake looked back and forth at the two of them. “I don’t get it,” he said. “How does this lead to me leaving?”

“Raven, needs control,” Starfire explained. “There will be more battles like these. There will be more necessitations of Pride’s abilities. If she cannot keep Control, then we do know someone who may be able to.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “Phyzzon?” he asked.

Robin shook his head. “Phyzzon refuses. It would have to be Temrash.”

Jake glared. “The _abductor_?” he asked. “Because the last two times he took over Raven went _so_ well?”

“They do need practice,” Robin admitted.

“ _Practice_?!” Jake swore and hit the kitchen counter before moving away from it. “I’m going to bed,” he snarled, heading toward the bedrooms.

“So… you will be staying?” Starfire asked. But Jake didn’t answer.

\-- --

In the morning, Raven found Cyborg and Beast Boy outside her door, both sitting with their backs against the door frame and both very much asleep from waiting. There were cold mugs of tea on the floor nearby, waiting for her.

She waited for the door to close behind her, then sat on the floor between them. She slid a hand into Cyborg’s, rousing him, then she nudged Beast Boy. As soon as Beast Boy was awake, he curled against her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, voice raw from chanting mantras.

“No, I am,” said Cyborg. Then, glancing at Beast Boy, “We are. I’m sorry that you were led to believe that we wouldn’t support that side of you. We will, Raven. We’ve seen what’s inside you, alright? And we’ll always be here to help you with it. No matter how bad it gets.”

“It… it may get worse,” she admitted. “Unfathomably worse.”

“I don’t care,” Beast Boy huffed, snuggling against her. It was a bit much, but she decided not to fight it this time. She appreciated the affection he was showing.

A part of her felt like she was tricking them. Viciously ensnaring them in a friendship that would eventually destroy them. She wanted to warn them. She wanted to run far away where they’d never find her, but she knew that was useless. They would find her. They always found her.

And, in another part of her, that gave her one small glimmer of hope.

A glimmer that might save the world.


End file.
